The Quest for Immortality

A demon cultivator, missing one arm and half his body maimed, crawled and stumbled his way into a mountain valley.

He took out a white bone and ignited it with a ghostly green flame.

The eerie, green-glowing monster Qi slowly spiraled upward.

The demon cultivator stood where he was and waited.

Before long, heavy footsteps could be heard. A tall man dressed in black had appeared without notice, walking slowly toward him.

”What happened?”

The black-clad man’s voice was deep, carrying a bitter chill.

”I...” the demon cultivator’s breathing was ragged, ”I was ordered to hunt a Blood Charming Fox, but I was intercepted halfway by several sect disciples.”

”The Blood Charming Fox is extremely rare. I spent a full month tracking this one down.”

”Originally, I didn’t plan to make a scene. I intended only to profit as the fisherman, swooping in while they fought among themselves to snatch the monster beast.”

”But... I...”

The demon cultivator’s face suddenly turned pale. ”My Monster Pattern malfunctioned, my demonic power backfired, and it attacked my Sea of Consciousness, leaving my Divine Sense muddled and dizzy.”

”After that, I don’t know what exactly happened. I have only blurry impressions — it seems I managed to steal the monster beast, almost killed one of the disciples, and then their fellow sect members came after me.”

The black-clad man frowned. ”What realm were they?”

The demon cultivator answered in a low voice, ”Foundation Establishment Middle Phase.”

The black-clad man sneered coldly, ”You’re at Foundation Establishment Late Stage, practiced demon techniques, and engraved Monster Patterns, yet you couldn’t handle a few Foundation Establishment Middle Phase sect disciples? Could you be any more useless?”

The demon cultivator panicked, hurriedly defending himself:

”It’s not my fault — those disciples were far too strange.”

”Which sect?”

”They weren’t wearing sect Taoist robes, and their methods were all over the place — swordsmanship, spells, formation arrays, they used everything. I couldn’t make sense of it...”

The black-clad man grew increasingly impatient.

To fight someone and not even discern their origins?

Indeed, practicing these demon techniques seemed to rot the brain.

”What sort of swordsmanship and formation arrays did they use?”

The demon cultivator said, ”One was a fire-series sword technique, impressive in power, but not too troublesome.”

”Their spells were water-series — they were incredibly irritating...”

”The formation arrays they laid down were overwhelming in strength and sheer numbers, but... I don’t understand formations at all, and couldn’t tell them apart...”

”Aside from that, one disciple was a sword cultivator, whose eyes carried the sharpness of a blade, and whose aura was overwhelmingly intense. He wielded a moon-white longsword, and his Sword Qi was terrifyingly fierce — hardly something a Foundation Establishment Middle Phase cultivator could possess...”

Upon hearing this, the black-clad man’s pupils contracted.

”A moon-white longsword, fierce Sword Qi... Rushing Void Sect...”

A name of a Rushing Void Sect sword Dao genius emerged in his mind.

The black-clad man’s gaze darkened as he looked at the demon cultivator. ”Was it this sword cultivator who injured you?”

”No, it wasn’t...” The demon cultivator trembled with lingering fear, his eyes filled with terror. ”I was wounded by... Broken Gold Sword Qi!”

At those words, the black-clad man immediately barked angrily:

”What nonsense are you spouting?!”

His gaze turned icy. ”How could you possibly be injured by Broken Gold Sword Qi?”

”It’s true...” The demon cultivator’s voice quivered. ”And it wasn’t ordinary Broken Gold Sword Qi — it was Sword Control! It was a Spirit Sword controlled by the legitimate, immensely powerful ’Sever Gold Sword Control Jue,’ striking from at least one hundred and sixty zhang away, severing my arm and nearly killing me!”

The demon cultivator was both furious and deeply frightened.

The black-clad man’s gaze sharpened like a blade as he examined the demon cultivator’s wound. Sure enough, traces of sharp Broken Gold Sword Qi were visible on the injury. His expression turned glacial as he asked in a grim voice:

”Who controlled the sword?”

The demon cultivator shook his head. ”I don’t know, but it definitely wasn’t those sect disciples...”

”A sword control strike of one hundred and sixty zhang, with Dao power of that magnitude — it would require at least a Foundation Establishment Peak or even an Initial Golden Core realm to wield such Sword Control techniques.”

”Those sect disciples aren’t capable of it.”

”And I’ve fought them — among the five, none practiced the Sever Gold Sword Control Jue.”

”So, whoever attempted to kill me with Sword Control must have been a hidden swordmaster, stealthily attacking me from the shadows!”

”And this person not only practiced the Sever Gold Sword Technique but mastered the Sever Gold Sect’s most orthodox and advanced Sword Control techniques!”

The demon cultivator’s voice turned icy.

The black-clad man’s expression grew heavy as water. ”You mean to say...”

The demon cultivator lowered his voice and clenched his teeth. ”The Song family!”

The black-clad man’s gaze turned murderous.

The demon cultivator braced himself and insisted, ”There’s no other explanation.”

The Song family practices the orthodox Sever Gold Sword Control Jue.

The Song family has always been at odds with the Jin family.

The Song family understands the Jin family best.

And except for the Jin family disciples, only the Song family disciples could wield such powerful Sword Control techniques.

”I suspect...” Blood spilled from the demon cultivator’s mouth as he grimly said, ”Some of our plans have been seen through by the Song family. They’re likely plotting to use other sects as pawns to bring down the Jin family, clearing the path for the Song family to rise...”

The black-clad man remained silent, but the surging murderous intent radiating from his body grew increasingly intense.

A chilling, bloodthirsty demonic power swirled around him like a coiled serpent, threatening to break through the skies.

Fortunately, the black-clad man forcibly suppressed the violent fury in his heart.

A moment later, the killing intent subsided.

The black-clad man’s aura settled, becoming deep and obscured like a mountain.

”I understand...”

He said faintly.

After this, he glanced at the demon cultivator again and asked in a somber tone, ”Where is the arm you lost?”

The demon cultivator groaned in pain. ”It was shredded by the Sword Qi, turned into nothing but a mist of blood...”

The black-clad man nodded slightly. ”That’s good.”

He looked at the demon cultivator again and tossed him a bright red blood-flesh healing pill. ”Take it.”

The demon cultivator’s face lit up with joy. He immediately swallowed the pill and gratefully said:

”Thank you, Boss!”

The black-clad man replied with a soft ”Hmm,” before speaking indifferently, ”Heal your wounds quickly, and don’t forget your mission. Mr. Tu said the plan has been moved up; you need to act faster.”

”Yes!” The demon cultivator bowed his head in acknowledgment.

After consuming the pill, a surge of blood Qi roared within his body, rapidly restoring his injuries and regenerating his flesh.

Though this method of forcibly healing through a blood-flesh pill would leave lingering side effects, consuming more blood-rich supplements in the future could slowly counteract them. At least this was preferable to dying now.

The black-clad man said, ”Follow me back to the valley.”

The demon cultivator followed dutifully.

After walking a few steps, the black-clad man suddenly halted, turning to look toward the direction outside Refining Demon Mountain, coldly snorting to himself:

”Rushing Void Sect, the Song family...”

”Daring to sabotage my grand plan — one day, I’ll make you all pay the price!”

The black-clad man sneered, the sound chilling, before turning away and leading the demon cultivator into the bloodiest, darkest shadows of the dense forest...